Does such a beast exist? And if so exactly what is it? Local music?
Is Mande variations local, world, ethnic, elitist, pop, classical?
Is Camille pop, rock, world?
Is Manu Chau rock, world, punk?
Is Vivienne Ndour mbalaz, international pop, world, local or ethnic?
Is Bruce Springsteen local, rock, ethnic, American, world?

Local music from non-mature markets?
Global music produced in developing markets?

My answer for this is actually in a different thread. I just like whatever music sounds good. No particular category. I guess it has to be in categories so it is easier to sell to the ones interested in it. Is that it?

matt wrote:Does such a beast exist? And if so exactly what is it? Local music?

Sun Ra & his Intergalactic Arkestra would seem to fit the bill, particularly "Space Is The Place".

Actually, more seriously, there are two sides (and then more) to the equation: that of the creator, the musician, and that of the listener. It may be that there is no correspondence between the two sides - the musician may be creating the music locally, in a context where the it has a specific meaning; if it is recorded and transported to a place outside of that context, it will be heard by people who will bring a different meaning to it. The possibilities introduced by the act of recording are myriad and, in my view, any attempt to categorise music is bound to fail unless it is pitched within strict parameters. Thus, an open ended question such as "what is world music?" can never be answered definitively; but the question "what does this music mean to you?" can, because it brings it down to the subjective level. Similarly, one piece of music cannot be said to be "good" or "bad"; we can only say that this or that piece is preferable to our ears. We can achieve a consensus, where we all agree that a piece of music is "good", but then we are back to the scenario where it has that meaning (or significance) in a particular context. Take it out of that context, and we may find that others do not agree with our value judgement.

As I've mentioned in another thread I'm a little concerned about how music is developing. it would seem to me that the great meld of migrating acts after the initial fusion of music is now at what seems a dead end. This is not to say that I don't enjoy the music, but where is it going to go?

For instance, K'naan does rap and goes to Canada (er I think?). brilliant, but now we have somali rap, or asian rap or afro rap or .... Or Balkan music is jazzified (perhaps it always was?), or desert blues transmogrified into "heavy metal" desert (or should that be heavy sand?) and as much as I love the different fusions where else does it go.

As the initial poster intimates what now is world music? We *here in the UK) seem to have a pretty parochial view on musical genres since globalisation has simply opened us up to musical styles we were hardly aware of (even of the music in France!) (sorry I'm speaking from an English point of view). But once the meld and mixture of styles has reached it's full course, where next?

Is "music" (as opposed to world v non world) now just at a point where one juxtaposes one style with another, or will there emerge genuinely new music?

One can hopefully clearly see a division between classical music and contemporary (guitar?) music. Can there be another seismic division for the future? What could it possibly sound like?

I need Howard or Garth or Charlie etc to develop this idea, because I just don't have the musical balls to express things clearly enough, but I am convinced we are at a watershed. Ou est Mozart?